Taming Mount Rumpke

Residents offer options to landfill expansion

Some Colerain Township residents are proposing methods
for drastically reducing or halting the thousands of tons of trash
that's dumped daily into "Mount Rumpke," the landfill nicknamed for its
distinction as Hamilton County's highest elevated point.

Colerain Township's Property Owners Want Equal Rights
(POWER) and Ohio Citizen Action have banded together for an effort
dubbed the Good Neighbor Campaign. Begun on Earth Day in April, the
campaign centers on offering alternatives to Rumpke's proposed 350-acre
expansion of its regional landfill and adjacent facilities in Colerain.

The proposal is tied up in an appeals court after Rumpke
sued Colerain Township trustees for turning down the expansion request,
which would grow the current 509-acre site.

Under Rumpke's proposal, the expansion would include 206 acres of new waste disposal space, along with 85 acres of greenspace and 59 acres of light industrial development.

The landfill, one of nation's largest, has been a source
of tension for nearby residents for years, with each expansion drawing
protests. Since 1945, its footprint has grown to tower above the rest
of the county, taking in 2 million tons of garbage annually. Just over
half — 56 percent— comes
from other Ohio counties or outside states. The company serves 2
million residents, 70 municipalities and 20,000 just in the Tristate
region alone.

That's a lot of trash. And regardless of the outcry,
Mount Rumpke has continued to rise, taking in the leftovers of our
packaged, consumer-driven, throw-away culture.

But this time, Ohio Citizen Action and POWER are doing
more than just protesting the proposed expansion: They're offering
alternatives they believe will extend the life of the landfill without
taking more land, while challenging us to rethink our garbage
accumulating ways.

Those ideas are outlined in a 40-page report the groups' recently unveiled The Future is Now: A Citizens' Audit of the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill.
It concludes a mix of advanced recycling techniques coupled with
entrepreneurial uses for reusable waste — like computers, paper, glass
and plastic — could divert at least 50 percent of the trash sent to the
landfill.

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The organizations have also asked Rumpke to drop its lawsuit
and "respect the authority of the township and its citizens."

These ideas are actually tried and tested in cities such
as Oakland and Fresno, Calif., Dubuque, Iowa, and Austin, Tex., where
those cities have made a "Zero Waste Pledge" to drastically reduce
waste (from 50 to 100 percent over 5 to 15 years) while boosting
recycling rates.

With the right governmental policies and targets in
place, that could happen here, says Melissa English, Ohio Citizen
Action's southern campaign director.

"The purpose of the report is to present an alternative
to expansion,” English says. “The pattern (at the landfill) has been to
fill, expand and repeat. We've been in the cycle for 65 years, and
people who make decisions have gotten trapped in that mentality. There
are communities that are doing this, and we wanted to present
alternatives and not just say, 'Not in my back yard.' "

Currently, Rumpke's landfill will reach capacity around 2025. With the expansion, the company says the site could be used for another 30 years, until 2055. But the firm still would be required to contain harmful gases emitted from the site until 2080.

Rumpke officials attended a public
meeting last month where the report was unveiled, says company
spokesman Jonathan Kissell. Rumpke has had ongoing conversations with
both community organizations about the expansion and other issues.
Still, Rumpke doesn't think the proposals are realistic and believes
POWER only would be satisfied if the landfill was completely closed.

"Several representatives attended the meeting and we are
always looking at ways to improve recycling,” Kissell says. “But as a
business we must continue to move forward to satisfy the needs of the
area. If you take away the landfill and a viable means of disposing of
waste, human health would be adversely affected.”

Rumpke is one of the largest recyclers in the Midwest and
has upped its efforts in recent years, completing a $6.5 million
upgrade in its Cincinnati recycling center in St. Bernard. This year
Rumpke announced a partnership with the city of Cincinnati that
included larger recycling carts, increased pickup frequency and the
ability to earn point for rewards at local businesses through the
RecycleBank program. The suburb of Montgomery also participates in
RecycleBank.

Rumpke's tech upgrades at the St. Bernard facility also
upped the variety of recyclables it can accept like pizza boxes and all
plastic bottles and jugs, without lids.

POWER and Ohio Citizen Action hope to continue garnering
public support for its recommendations with the goal of pressuring
Rumpke into taking further action, English says. Residents and
consumers, too, must play a role in lessening the environmental impact
of our trash, she adds.

"As long as we can count on what we perceive as a cheap
and convenient option in Colerain, things will continue,” English says.
“All landfills close and someday we are going to have to come up with a
plan for our garbage that does include that landfill.”